Rebounding and Shooting

[Harry]

I was totally impressed with the depth and athleticism of this team last night! That was a thug opponent and they hard fouled Tony everytime he would try to get a dunk etc... didn't matter of course because Coach Benford kept reinforcements coming in waves off of the bench.

Its hard to tell on an opponent like that how good you are but I will say that my concerns are two-fold: shooting and rebounding. I don't know if we have a pure shooter on the team, Brendon Walton can shoot but he is streaky and JWill and Tony showed that they could drain some threes. The other thing is, and Benford addressed this in the post game, some of the players seem to think that Tony will get all of the boards and most he will but I would rather see him be able to run the fly down the court for fast break dunks. That was a huge lesson learned last night that you cannot expect others to get the rebounds even against an inferior opponent.

I also want to commend Benford on all the zone presses and defensive looks he used...totally different than under Jones. I thought the defense was stifiling at times and that's a great sign.

Biggest disappointment was not getting to see Coleman play. Coach Benford said after 18 practices Coleman was their most improved player on the team and that was exciting to hear.

Stay tuned on the board today as I have some pics from the game that I will be sharing in the gallery. GMG

[Stan R]

Was a great crowd for an exhibition and they weren't disappointed. Team and staff looked very much in sync and you can tell the team was prepared defensively. I'm going by my recollections of JJ's teams which sort of just stood around on defense trying to be in the right place without to my eyes a real gameplan on defense. I really liked Benford's post game comments because he wasn't happy with most aspects of the game. Shows me he is continually striving to improve. I'll concur with the shooting fears more than I will the rebounding (with the caveat that Coleman WILL be back). What I recall was more mid range jumper misses than about anything else. Raised my eyebrows, I'm going to chalk it up to 1st game jitters. I hope I'm right.

The team looks to be adapting to Benford's style and that is a good sign.

[NT03]

I think once Patton gets back & we have Coleman down low , our rebounding won't be a problem.

We played sloppy and need to improve in several areas , but that's expected with the 1st game

I think it might 20+ games into the season before Benford can stick to a rotation. A lot of talent & a lot of talent that hasn't played much together in actual games. I can See everyone on the squad contribute in some way

Edited November 2, 2012 by NT03

[Harry]

Couple of other things I noticed,

CJ is playing within himself, ie compared to last year he doesn't force things as much and just looks for openings as they play out...not as highlight reel worthy but incredibly effective...

Coach Robb Evans receives SO much respect from the players on the court. He appears to be Tony's main mentor and also spent moments with Alzee..

Good to see Austin get minutes last nite.

Benford has a deep raspy voice...you hear him all game which is so much different that than Johnny was fairly quiet.

They were not happy with Niko last night in particular with his rebounding and defense.

CJ kept having to go to the lockerroom and was drinking gatorade -- they said cramping for him and Alzee.

JPat had his leg stretched out and sat down for most of the game.

One of the walk-on's was at the end of the bench and did not have a chair. It was the white kid (don't know his name). I felt bad for him and there were tons of empty chairs all over the place. Maybe its a code issue that they can only have so many chairs on the sidelines? Not right for him to have to sit on the hard floor all game.

[foutsrouts]

I'm not really worried about the rebounding, but based on watching both the scrimmage and the exhibition, outside shooting is a bit of a concern to me at this point. On the other hand JWill showed improved range, and Alzee, Holmen, and Walton all showed what they're capable of last season. Sure hope that area shows some improvement against Creighton.

[UNT90]

Nail on the head, Harry.

This team has got to shoot and rebound better. Coleman being out may have affected the rebounding, but I would be hesitant to count on him right now for other reasons, anyway.

[UNT90]

Also, for all you gamblers out there, when UNT meets up with St. Louis, go big on the under.

Over/under may be 90 for that game (hyperbole tag)

[glick1980]

I was not happy with the rebounding. To many loose balls that we had a chance at and allowed them to get an offensive board. I was happy with the defensive intensity and variety of coverages used. I was impressed with Walton's on ball defense. I love the full court trap with Holeman as the trapper, he has excellent speed. We need to block out better, I saw our guys getting pushed deep into the lane too often. Not sure about our three point shooting yet, hopefully it is improved. I was impressed with our ability to get to the line and hit our free throws (if there is one aspect from the JJ era we need to continue, this is it).

Edited November 2, 2012 by glick1980

[Greenhorn]

Nail on the head, Harry.

This team has got to shoot and rebound better. Coleman being out may have affected the rebounding, but I would be hesitant to count on him right now for other reasons, anyway.

Any specific reason you say that about Coleman?

Alzee is great at attacking the basket and finishing. He's fun to watch and at his best doing that. I would say Jordan Williams and Walton will be this teams best midrange to deep shooters followed by CJ then TM.

[NT1978]

Any specific reason you say that about Coleman?

Academic maybe.

[glick1980]

Any specific reason you say that about Coleman?

Alzee is great at attacking the basket and finishing. He's fun to watch and at his best doing that. I would say Jordan Williams and Walton will be this teams best midrange to deep shooters followed by CJ then TM.

I think J Williams can be a first round draft pick in three years. He is a great athlete with a great looking stroke and is a very good defender and rebounder. If he continues to improve his shooting and works on his handle, he could be great.

[UNT90]

Any specific reason you say that about Coleman?

Alzee is great at attacking the basket and finishing. He's fun to watch and at his best doing that. I would say Jordan Williams and Walton will be this teams best midrange to deep shooters followed by CJ then TM.

Academic maybe.

Academic exactly.

Just a little gunshy after last year.

Edited November 2, 2012 by UNT90

[MeanMag]

The most surprising bright spot to me was PJ Hardwick.

The dude he made look silly on the baseline was a defender that was in his ear on the in-bounds just before. Really impressed me that he responded like he did.

[TheTastyGreek]

The dude he made look silly on the baseline was a defender that was in his ear on the in-bounds just before.

Shin-shee shin-shee?

[Harry]

He reminds me of Tommy Amaker